Ads make the world go round.  Well, actually money does, but with advertising comes money – so it’s kind of the same thing.  More online gaming companies, from the developer to the publisher end, have come to the decision that they need to have ads for varied monetization options.

Live Gamer, an online market where gamers trade and buy games, has recently invested further in the advertisement sector by acquiring two ad companies GamerDNA and BrandPort.  GamerDNA is reportedly the fifth largest gamer-focused advertising network in the U.S. and Europe, while BrandPort, which has been rebranded as Live Gamer Ad Elements, provides media and publisher partners with video ad serving, targeting, optimization, and reporting infrastructure.  These two companies were acquired for monetizing purposes, since not all online gamers pay for their games.  Live Gamer clients include EA, Sony Online Entertainment and it also powers Facebook Credits.

“Users are willing and very receptive to the idea that they have to engage with advertising in order to get a reward. We’re seeing click-through rates of over five percent, and advertisers only pay if a whole ad is viewed,” Live Gamer president and co-founder Andrew Schneider said.

Online game monetization has become big business, for PCs, social networks and mobile platforms alike.  It’s the third party platform owners that are making the most progress in this area, pushing the limits on how developers can benefit developing trends around gaming technology.  For Live Gamer, it’s been quite an evolution, watching the gaming industry and surviving some of the changes and technological advances that have taken place in recent years.

It was Live Gamer’s early entry in the Asian market that gave the company a head start on Western trends, anticipating the way in which online games would ultimately be monetized.  “We listened to publishers, and looked at what technology was disrupting existing models,” explains Schneider.

“You can’t help but study Korea and China closely.  Broadband was disruptive there, and it’s something we learned about when we acquired a company in Korea that provided microtransactions.  There we got the whole story and experience.  The idea there was this free-to-play model, and it followed suit in the US and UK.  It’s about responsiveness to the tech landscape and listening to clients.”

Attuned attention to clients is certainly a must if Live Gamer intends to maintain its leading position in this booming industry, creating a trifecta with its latest acquisitions.  The combination of Live Gamer’s existing services, along with the services these new products provide, means that publishers can create unique packages that diversify their monetization options.

The online gaming industry is exploring advertising and monetization in a few different directions, and several mergers and acquisitions mark the growth and consolidation of this industry.  Zipline Games, one of the leaders in mobile game development and creator of the Moai game development platform, recently partnered with Tapjoy, the leader in monetization and distribution services for social and mobile gaming.  Tapjoy’s in-app advertising and monetizing will be incorporated in their Moai game development platform.

And the industry is certainly a global one, as Live Gamer and others know.  Greylock Israel, a partner firm of Greylock Partners, leads the $4.2 million funding for SupersonicAds, maker of a social in-game advertising platform.  The funding will support SupersonicAds’ expansion of BrandConnect which offers virtual currency incentives.

“Online advertising becomes a win-win proposition when all players in the online advertising ecosystem – game players, publishers and brand advertisers – benefit,” said Gil Shoham, CEO of SupersonicAds. “This investment from Greylock will enable us to grow our global team faster and continue to deliver outstanding results for leading brands and publishers.”

What’s interesting about the online game monetization industry is the options it provides to gamers themselves.  They are the ultimate determining factors in terms of which companies prevail in this industry, and the innovation that we see within the gaming industry comes from companies seeking optimal ways of leveraging consumer information for diversified marketing and monetization options.

Editor’s Note: Mellisa Tolentino is a contributor to this article.